Thursday, 2 June 2011

Warlord/Empress Zulu War plastic Zulus

I wasn't impressed by the recent greens of the forthcoming Warlord/Empress Zulu War plastic British. I think Paul Hicks' sculpts for the metal Empress British are the best 28mm Colonial figures out there (and I include the Perries Sudan range in that). The Empress metal Zulus are horrible, however, with chunky, wierdly proportioned anatomy which makes them look more like pygmies than Zulus. These new plastic Zulus look tremendous, however, and look like they will become the standard for Zulus in this scale. Can't wait to see them!

My isijula Zulu throwing spear, showing the binding joining the tang of the blade to the haft

One thing that plastics can do better than metals is good weapons and these are the first accurate representations of Zulu spears I have seen in this scale. I own a Zulu Wars period assegai (throwing spear) myself and they appear to have modelled the plaited cane binding really well.

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My Interest in Colonial Wargaming

My interest in Colonial Wargaming was largely ignited by my father, who was a big fan of the film Zulu and always wanted a Stanley Baker style pith helmet.

It was many years before I started to paint Colonial wars figures and these were the ESCI/ERTL Zulu War plastics. When I moved on to metal figures I quickly discovered that there wasn't a range of Zulu War figures that met my standards. However, this has all changed with the marvellous figures from Empress Miniatures, Warglord Games and now Perry Miniatures, so, at last, good, modern Zulu War forces are possible.

In the meantime I started work on my Sudan project (see link below) but it is clear that there is a lot more material available on the Zulu War with people such as Ian Knight churning out books at an alarming rate (did anybody else see him on the quiz show Telly Addicts a few years ago? - he didn't do very well!).